Home network upgrade and access whilst travelling abroad

[AndrewGP]

I start a new job soon that will involve a lot more overseas travel and I want the ability to access the files on my home network.

Current setup is my Windows 11 PC which is getting on a bit but still ok for now. It's running an mildly overclocked AMD 3700X with 32Gb RAM and has three large storage drives. This is connected via Cat 6 LAN that runs throughout the house to the router, various other network devices such as the TVs and music streamers etc and to an ancient Synology NAS from 2014 (a DS214+ running 2TB in RAID). It's almost full and performance isn't great.

Files are backed up on one of the PC drives and also on the NAS so I have 3 copies of everything important. I don't have any cloud storage except for the default amount that you get with an iPhone and an iCloud account.

Our router is also quite ancient, it was very good in it's day but that was 10 years ago

Before I think about upgrading the PC, how is it best to configure the network for access from abroad? I'd be using a Win 11 laptop. Is it just a case of buying a much better router and NAS drive or do I need to think a little deeper (and spend more money :laugh )

[Tony1963]

Would it be ok to just load the files onto a portable HDD? 4Tb can be had for £110 or so.

[SO27]

Remote access software like TeamViewer would be least hassle.
If you need the files locally then it can transfer them as well as controlling your remote PC.

[nyt]

I'd think about a Microsoft 365 account.

~£50 annually and includes 1TB of online storage which can be accessed from any machine connected to the internet.

Far easier than messing with firewall configuration etc etc.

Teamviewer is also a good shout but you'd have to leave your home machine on 24/7

[AndrewGP]

Thanks all.

A portable HDD is an easy, cheap solution but I need to work on the files whilst away so only having one version is important. I'll have a look in to TeamViewer and M365

My initial thoughts were to get a newer, more powerful NAS to act as a file server for both when I'm at home and abroad and I'm happy to keep it running 24/7 like my NAS is right now. Would that be the best solution or are they not really designed for that?

[carguy45]

My NAS (fairly modern Synology) runs 24/7 and also acts as my Plex media server. It has inbuilt remote functionality so no pc required, and you don’t have to faff about setting up external access via your router either - all very straightforward to configure for file access, and if your data includes movies/music you want to stream, Plex will do all that. So yes if you’re open to upgrading to a newer NAS, I think it will tick all the boxes you need.

[Mr Pointy]

If you need to access & work on the files then I'd really be looking at cloud storage - it's ideal for this. Dropbox works well for us (we have 5 people working on about 1TB of files), MS Onedrive is an alternative especially if you use Office/MS365, or Google Drive if you're of that persuasion. I've just started looking at Sync as well which claims end-to-end encryption if that's vital to you. Everything stays updated & synced & you can roll back to previous versions of files usually for at least 30 days or even a year if you pay a bit more.

I'd suggest it's really not a good idea to be relying on you home PC to be running & your router being online to be able to work when abroad. If you do want to go that route then routers like Draytek have built-in remote connection facilities which you can make secure.

[Captain_Morgan]

Take a look at tailscale.

It creates a vpn between devices, for example your home system and your laptop, or even your nas (dependant on spec)

It’s then easy to share files

Foc for individual.

[outnumbered]

Captain_Morgan said:

Take a look at tailscale.

It creates a vpn between devices, for example your home system and your laptop, or even your nas (dependant on spec)

It’s then easy to share files

Foc for individual.

Using Tailscale or other VPN would also help with accessing any online media subscriptions (Sky, Discovery, BBC, whatever) you have, that probably won't work from abroad.

A slightly more modern Synology NAS could store all your files, make them accessible remotely, and also be a VPN endpoint.

[bitchstewie]

Always find it interesting when companies spend millions or billions on security and still get breached how people thinks they'll be just fine with all their stuff on a Synology NAS behind a £50 home router.

As above look at cloud storage for the stuff you need available wherever you are.

[Captain_Morgan]

outnumbered said:

Captain_Morgan said:

Take a look at tailscale.

It creates a vpn between devices, for example your home system and your laptop, or even your nas (dependant on spec)

It’s then easy to share files

Foc for individual.

Using Tailscale or other VPN would also help with accessing any online media subscriptions (Sky, Discovery, BBC, whatever) you have, that probably won't work from abroad.

A slightly more modern Synology NAS could store all your files, make them accessible remotely, and also be a VPN endpoint.

It’s worth noting that it seems synology are introducing the need to use synology drives from the 2025 devices, this might change the default option.

It’s also worth considering who owns the travel laptop & what software they’ll allow to be run on it.

That said I’ve always been slightly aware that some folk open up remote access to there nas without understanding that they have opened remote access into there own network but never follow up with regular service updates to keep them secure, loads of qnap, wd & other devices have been compromised & data had been lost.

Hence I tend to stick with OpenVPN, wireguard, tailscale etc, I tend to trust remote access providers rather than nas providers.

[Griffith4ever]

I spend a lot of time abroad and also run a business and I sometimes need local access (including printing). This is what I've done. It's simple, and has been 100% reliable.

I have a main router that supports VPN - its quite common, but you'll want a fairly decent router if you want it to work. I have an Asus RT-AX86S.

There are plenty of YT guides on it, but its a very easy process. You set up openVPN on the router, then install the Open VPN client on your win tablet / Android phone / tab etc, - its well supported as you can imagine for an open platform.

When I'm away abroad, I just click on the Open VPN client in the tray, select connect, type in the password, and bingo - I'm on my LAN. Whilst I was at home I mapped drives (on my NAS) and printers to the laptop - I found network browsing to be complicated (didn't work) over the VPN.

I can now access all my docs on the NAS, print orders for my staff remotely , and with Reolink, watch the printer actually print the orders, whilst having a beer in a bar in Thailand :-)

This has worked flawlessly over 3 month continuous travels.

If you buy a decent router like mine, or similar, you'll get a free dynamic DNS account that you set up inside the router web interface, so your VPN connections will always get through to your changing public IP.

I too tried travelling with a USB disc, but the doc you actually need is ALWAYS out of date, or missing :-) There is no substitute for full VPN access.

Plus, if you enable the VPN to use the local internet (and not the one your remote laptop is on) then you can watch UK TV etc too :-)

[Somebody]

Setup OpenVPN via the VPN server package on your Synology NAS, and also Synology DDNS to enable you to access remotely. Set the NAS firewall to restrict access from countries you’re travelling to. Set up 2FA too.

[Griffith4ever]

Do you really need 2FA ? With openvm you install a key file on the client computer , along with the password, isn't that already 2FA?

[Condi]

AndrewGP said:

My initial thoughts were to get a newer, more powerful NAS to act as a file server for both when I'm at home and abroad and I'm happy to keep it running 24/7 like my NAS is right now. Would that be the best solution or are they not really designed for that?

Literally what they're designed for....

You can do all sorts of other things, as well as acting as a file server, via things like Docker.

Synology have their own software which I'm sure you already know, to make accessing files easy. Then you can either copy them onto your laptop or simply access them and edit them from the NAS itself.

Edited by Condi on Monday 21st April 14:31

[David_M]

bhstewie said:

Always find it interesting when companies spend millions or billions on security and still get breached how people thinks they'll be just fine with all their stuff on a Synology NAS behind a £50 home router.

As above look at cloud storage for the stuff you need available wherever you are.

This.

The described user requirements sound like Dropbox's pitch for the last 15 years.

[Mr Pointy]

David_M said:

bhstewie said:

Always find it interesting when companies spend millions or billions on security and still get breached how people thinks they'll be just fine with all their stuff on a Synology NAS behind a £50 home router.

As above look at cloud storage for the stuff you need available wherever you are.

This.

The described user requirements sound like Dropbox's pitch for the last 15 years.

Indeed. some of the stuff that's been posted is just mind boggling.

[bitchstewie]

Mr Pointy said:

Indeed. some of the stuff that's been posted is just mind boggling.

I'd simply encourage people to start by asking themselves a very simple question which is do I think I can do this better than Microsoft or Google or Dropbox can?

[Captain_Morgan]

bhstewie said:

Mr Pointy said:

Indeed. some of the stuff that's been posted is just mind boggling.

I'd simply encourage people to start by asking themselves a very simple question which is do I think I can do this better than Microsoft or Google or Dropbox can?

Some people have a inherent mistrust in making there data available on a cloud.

Some folk would rather own the data themselves & not pay a subscription to access.

among other reasons, being in neither one of those camps doesn’t preclude me from understanding them.

[AndrewGP]

Thanks all, lots to go away and research.

bhstewie said:

Always find it interesting when companies spend millions or billions on security and still get breached how people thinks they'll be just fine with all their stuff on a Synology NAS behind a £50 home router.

I’m not sure if this was aimed at me, but if it was, I think nothing of the sort. Hence the reason I asked the question in the first place. As Captain Morgan points out, I’m 50:50 whether I trust cloud storage so wanted to find out what options are open to me in order to come up with a solution I’m happy with.